October 5, 2012

Before the president took the stage, Madison congressional candidate Mark Pocan, Mayor Paul Soglin, outgoing U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin set the tone for the afternoon, encouraging attendees to get out and vote.

While at the beginning of his speech Obama took shots at Romney, he mostly stuck to talking about his vision for the country and urged the crowd of young supporters to vote in November.

College aged voters showed up at the polls in historic numbers four years ago to propel Obama into office, and Thursday he again pushed for their support.

So there was no pretense at all that this event had anything to do with educating young minds, exploring political ideas. It was unabashedly a get-out-the-vote effort... right down to demanding that the students acquire tickets by going to the campaign website and providing their email addresses and phone numbers (which, from what I've heard, were immediately used to spam the students with pleas for donations).

It absolutely IS a religion. Logic plays no part in the discussion. It is about faith. Go into the Daily Kos sometime and question one of their memes. You will be treated just as any other fundamentalist community treats anyone who questions their beliefs. You will be attacked and then ostracized.

Well, yes, of course, since there is nothing left but the possibility of *believing*, as the four-year road test of the least experienced man ever nominated and then elected president proves he's as empty of results as he was of experience.

"...right down to demanding that the students acquire tickets by going to the campaign website and providing their email addresses and phone numbers (which, from what I've heard, were immediately used to spam the students with pleas for donations)."

-- Start a charity/foundation, spend time with his family, campaign for surrogates who served him well (even if only in private with the party bigwigs.) Just like most other presidents.

Oh you know if he loses this time, he's going to go all:

What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,And study of revenge, immortal hate,And courage never to submit or yield:And what is else not to be overcome? That Glory never shall his wrath or might Extort from me.

PS The markets don't, apparently. When the job news came out, the Dow was up about 90, until everyone looked under the hood, and then agreed with Jack Welch that there's something very Chicago going on.

It was unabashedly a get-out-the-vote effort... right down to demanding that the students acquire tickets by going to the campaign website and providing their email addresses and phone numbers (which, from what I've heard, were immediately used to spam the students with pleas for donations).

Were you surprised by this? With all the gimmicks that the Obama campaign has used the last 2 years for asking for money, you are still surprised by this?

I really wonder how he's going to handle not being President any more.

He's going to do everything he can to stay in the spotlight and complain about how he wasn't given a fair chance, and how everything good that happens in the next 8 years should be credited to him instead of Romney.

It sounds like an excellent educational experience to me. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the costs were covered out of student fees. Some things you just can't learn in a class room.

It sounds like an excellent educational experience to me. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the costs were covered out of student fees. Some things you just can't learn in a class room.

Look, I don't see how this is even a question. I may be misremembering how you've defined "cult" in the past, but I'm pretty sure you included evangelical Christianity in the category, if not mainline Protestant Easter-and-Christmas-only Christianity. If that's the standard for cult-hood, the answer is trivial: yes.

Funny how the college generation is apparently eager to burdened with enormous amounts of debt from which they will receive little, if any, benefit. I suppose they're supposed to believe in Obama's magical claim that if the rich people pay their FAIR SHARE everything will be goodness and light. And, we will all be poor.

Look, I don't see how this is even a question. I may be misremembering how you've defined "cult" in the past, but I'm pretty sure you included evangelical Christianity in the category, if not mainline Protestant Easter-and-Christmas-only Christianity. If that's the standard for cult-hood, the answer is trivial: yes.

The question then is does that matter?

No, I clearly define religion vs. cultism, while poking at both - I'm an atheist, what would you expect?

It's the rest of you who don't seem to have given the matter much thought,...

A religion. Tune into NPR. With any luck, you'll find a touching Obama homily. 'The unemployment numbers confirm what I said a year ago that the recovery was on track,' said one commentator. 'What does that do to Romney's line about unemployment,' said Judy Woodruff. It's touching really.If Romney loses, I'll console myself that we do have freedom of religion in this country (the Obama vote just exercised it).

When a guy is busted repeatedly for running a confidence scam where he claims to find gold in the ground, then claims an angel told him where to find gold in the ground (but nobody else can look at it but him) and he corrals his suckers - I mean "followers" - from a place so notorious for "spiritual" gullibility it's known as "the burned over district" (AKA those nutjobs would fall for anything) any growth from this - his latest lame operation - can only be called a cult.